Blog
Just Another Monday
Does it seem like just another Monday, not much going on? Same old, same old? Well, think again! In the context of history, there’s no such thing as just another day. Take today, for example, April 12th. In 1861, 160 years ago, the American Civil War began when...
The March of Folly II
‘History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce:’ Karl Marx My second blog for this March of Folly takes as its theme Karl Marx’s famous aphorism that: ‘History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.’ i Never has the idea that history repeats...
A March of Folly
I borrow my title from Barbara Tuchman’s famous (and controversial) history book analyzing classic historical mistakes. Let us devote this month’s blogs to famous errors, the kinds of monumental errors that make you scratch your head and say “What were they thinking?”...
Who’d have thunk it?
Rounding out ‘Science February,’ I’d like to raise a glass of pinot noir to some of the great science fiction writers whose works anticipated actual science. Imagination—the well-spring of creative writing—was, in these cases, also the mother of invention. Who’d have...
Famous Last Words
My third science blog: From time to time scientists have written words of grandeur, modesty, mystery and self-depreciation. Here are a few of my favorites:Words of Mystery—Fermat's Last Theorem The French mathematician Pierre de Fermat (1607 to 1665) was perhaps the...
The Pace of Change
My grandchildren find it hard to believe that I grew up in a world without color television, when most aircraft had propellers, when you literally dialed someone on the telephone, when almost all cars had manual transmissions, etc., etc. Looking back, it’s hard to...
